


A Rankless Thing

by Monocytogenes



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Assassination Attempt(s), First Order Politics (Star Wars), Gen, Injured Kylo Ren, Negotiations, Political Alliances, Supreme Leader Kylo Ren
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:15:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25061473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Monocytogenes/pseuds/Monocytogenes
Summary: “Do you think me the kind of idiot who goes for a chat with a Force user I failed to assassinate?” Hux countered. “Really, Ren. After all the years we’ve known each other.”After Kylo Ren narrowly survives an attempt on his life, Hux proposes a political alliance with the man he had once considered a rival.
Relationships: Armitage Hux & Kylo Ren
Comments: 1
Kudos: 18





	A Rankless Thing

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Force's Will](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18163064) by [NiriKeehan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NiriKeehan/pseuds/NiriKeehan). 



Kylo had been lingering on the edge of sleep when the door slid open, propped up against pillows on a medbay bed, head foggy and the unpleasant sweetness of bacta lingering in his mouth. As he raised his head slightly, he felt their presences before his eyes focused to see them clearly—a white-aproned nurse and a black-clad officer with bright, familiar hair.

He tensed, exhaling a gasp as the motion tugged at still-tender skin, the remnants of deep gashes beneath his shirt. The nurse stepped over, checking bandages and tubing; then retreated without a word.

A hiss, a click. The creak of a chair, outside his frame of view.

“If you’ve come to finish me off, do it quickly,” Kylo muttered, his throat hoarse.

A scoff. “If I had been the one responsible, you wouldn’t be here.”

Kylo turned, blinking at Hux with fatigued eyes. Hux was sitting back with his hands folded and ankle resting atop his knee, a pose that almost seemed uncharacteristically casual, if not for the lingering stiffness in the line of his shoulders.

“I’m supposed to believe that?” Kylo retorted.

“Do you think me the kind of idiot who goes for a chat with a Force user I failed to assassinate?” Hux countered. “Really, Ren. After all the years we’ve known each other.”

“I know your opinion of me.”

“You’ve been unconscious for approximately fifteen hours. It would’ve been easy—a slight error in your chart, perhaps, a seemingly faulty valve, a bad batch of medication.” Hux tipped his head, a half-shrug. “Don’t underestimate me. The fact that we’re even having this conversation should be proof enough of my innocence.”

Kylo heaved a sigh. “Then what is it you want?”

“I’d like to propose an arrangement. An understanding, if you will.”

“Since when are you in the habit of cutting deals with me?”

Hux unfolded his hands, dropping his propped-up foot to the floor. “Surely now that you’ve met with high command you’ve become aware that I have certain enemies within our ranks.”

“Pryde and his friends don’t seem to like you very much.”

“General Pryde and his acolytes are ideologically opposed to me. They want nothing more than to resurrect the empire exactly as it was, replete with nepotism and corruption, and to secure their old positions within that rotten hierarchy.” Restrained anger pulsed in Hux’s features, his words burning with sudden intensity. “I intend to build something new. An order governed by justice and efficiency, designed to reward meritorious work and punish those that would hoard wealth and power for their own advantage. After coming this far, we cannot afford to repeat the errors of the prior regimes. To fall victim to the nostalgic folly of men past their prime.”

Realizing that he’d been leaning towards Kylo, Hux straightened, taking a breath. “Unfortunately, at the moment Pryde remains a figure of great influence. Were I to attempt to unseat him, the Order would surely split into factions and imperil our offensive. The fact is, I need an ally.”

“You need me,” Kylo said.

“I need you,” admitted Hux. “Someone that contingent can respect, an emperor for our era. Someone who can mediate, keep the war on track, up until we’ve secured victory and can dispose of those who would jeopardize all we’ve gained.”

Kylo felt faintly chilled by the thought, visions of show trials and public executions swimming to mind. “What do I get out of this?”

“Besides the knowledge that you’d be helping to forge a lasting peace?” Hux said snidely. “Protection. I don’t know who tried to kill you, exactly, but I know why, and can assist in preventing that from happening again.”

“How do you know the motive if you don’t know who did it?”

“It’s obvious. You’ve been sticking your nose where you’re not wanted, meddling needlessly in command decisions. I’m sure it was thought we might have another Crait on our hands unless something was done.”

“That’s bantha shit.” Indignant, Kylo tried to sit up, only to sink into his pillow again as his wounds stung. “My judgment has been sound.”

Hux shook his head. “Ren, it doesn’t—”

“I’m Supreme Leader, I have every right to—”

“ _Listen to me!_ ” Hux hissed, rising from his seat, his face very near to Kylo’s. “It doesn’t matter how smart you think you are. You are not an _officer._ You didn’t attend Academy, you didn’t study strategy, what little you know about tactics isn’t relevant at this level. You are here to observe, offer suggestions, and to make the occasional tie-breaking ruling when we find ourselves at an impasse. The rest of the time you stay out of the way.”

“How dare you,” Kylo snapped. “I’m not staying out of the way.”

“Yes you are, because if you don’t, you’re going to find yourself bleeding out on another battlefield, and stars forbid you don’t make it out of that one!” Hux exclaimed, practically vibrating with emotion. “I told you I need you. I’m telling you all of this because there are things at stake here that are greater than both of us. Do you understand?”

Kylo studied him, his hurried breathing and tensed brow, the bags beneath his eyes and strands of hair that had worked loose from his greasy pomade. In spite of the haze of his brain, he could sense the fear beneath Hux’s frustration, roiling like the crest of a wave.

“It was one of your subordinates, wasn’t it?” he said. “Pryde’s wouldn’t lay a hand on me.”

Hux settled back into his chair. “I think so, but as I said, I don’t know who.”

“How do I know that you didn’t set this all up to get me to agree to support you?”

“Because you almost died, Ren,” Hux glowered, speaking each word with crisp annoyance. “Why would I run that risk?”

Kylo extended a hand. “Come here. I need to see for myself.”

Hux stared at him. “I’m not some prisoner for you to interrogate.”

“You want me to trust you? Let me do what I need to do.”

Hux hesitated another moment, then exhaled slowly through his nose, pulling his chair closer to Kylo’s bedside. Kylo placed his palm against Hux’s forehead, fingers splayed.

“Stop resisting,” Kylo muttered, scrunching up his face as he tried to focus, brushing up against the hard edges of Hux’s mental boundaries.

“I’m not trying to.”

“You are. Just—clear your head.”

Hux shut his eyes, tilting his head down slightly, into Kylo’s hand. It took a good minute for Hux’s defenses to recede enough for Kylo to work his way through, struggling with his own weakness, faltering in a cloud of cluttered impressions before mustering enough energy to hone his approach.

( _Terrorangerrage—this cannot happen, not now—the glint of Phasma’s helmet, brow pinched, lips downturned. No, we don’t know. We’re looking—Whatever fool is responsible for this fiasco is playing us right into Pryde’s hands. This is exactly the sort of impression Pryde wants—fearangersick—if he finds a way to—fearfear panic—)_

Kylo broke away, drawing his hand back. Hux drew a shuddering breath, blinking, his skin glistening with a sheen of sweat.

“Wow,” Kylo reflected with a cough of a laugh, gazing up at the ceiling. “You really are afraid of Pryde usurping you.”

Hux shifted uncomfortably, his voice reduced to a pained whisper. “I have worked too hard to endure having this taken from me.”

An uneasy silence stretched between them. 

“I don’t want that future either,” Kylo said at length. “The re-creation of the old empire. The Jedi and the Sith. I want us to do better than that.”

He glanced to Hux, who appeared mildly surprised by the statement. “So if that’s what you want to avoid, and you can keep your men in line from now on...I’m willing to stand with you.”

Hux stripped off his leather glove and offered his hand. It took a moment for Kylo to grasp the meaning of the gesture, as far removed as it was from Hux’s customary reserve, from aloof nods and formal salutes. A rankless thing; an acknowledgment of vulnerabilities laid bare.

He shook it.

**Author's Note:**

> NiriKeehan and I have been talking quite a bit about the political landscape of the First Order in the context of her fic lately, and I've been pretty enamored with the idea of Hux being at odds with the old Imperial generation and needing Kylo to bolster his own influence. Given everything Kylo represents, as well as the fact that these two were written as foils of each other in TFA, it makes a lot of sense to me.
> 
> Hux has always been a dangerously brilliant, scheming ideologue in my mind, and I'm still terribly disappointed with how he was sidelined and wasted in TROS. In the Hux comic, he insists "I am not weak; I am patient"--and I'm confident that he would've wormed his way into power in a narrative that really understood him. Down the line, I can definitely see him doing what real dictators do and [purging the ranks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_of_the_Long_Knives) of his father's ilk when he no longer needs them.
> 
> Also, many thanks to NiriKeehan for her portrayal of and insights into Hux and Kylo's relationship, which influenced me heavily here--I've always had a somewhat difficult time writing them together, since I do see it as some complicated platonic thing, with shades of that weird fondness you get from just working alongside someone over several years.


End file.
